San Bernardino County, CA, Biographies
This file is part of the California Genealogy & History Archives
http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~cagha/index.htm
GEORGE MILLS COOLEY,
the eldest of fourteen living children, nine sons and five daughters of George
and Ellen Tolputt Cooley, was born in Utah in 1856, and crossed the plains an
infant in his mother's arms, drawn by ox teams, to California. His parents are
both natives of the county of Kent, England, and were married on shipboard while
crossing
the Atlantic to the United States. They settled in the San Bernardino valley,
south of the city, and the subject of this memoir grew up to manhood on the
beautiful ranch where they now reside, and where he mastered the arts of
agriculture. Deciding to enter mercantile life, he educated himself therefor in
Heald's Business College, San Francisco, and began his hardware business in
1874, as clerk in the store which he now owns, for Ruffen & Biays, whom he
bought out in 1885, and has since been sole proprietor. This is the oldest
hardware house in the county, having been established by John Ruffen nearly
twenty-five years ago. Since coming in possession of the business, Mr. Cooley
has increased it several fold by his energy and the close application of his
thorough knowledge of the hardware trade. He is not only master of the business
but also personally superintends every department, and herein lies his
phenomenal success. His stock embraces everything in the line of shelf and
general hardware, stoves, piping and plumbers' goods, all of which he buys from
manufacturers direct and in large quantities, thus reducing the cost to the
minimum, and giving his customers the benefit in low prices. Among the special
departments developed in his extensive and steadily growing business is
scientific plumbing, for which he has created an enviable reputation throughout
San Bernardino County. He makes all his own estimates and supervises the work in
this branch, in which he employs from four to twelve skilled mechanics, and does
the bulk of the work in this line in this portion of Southern California.
Roofing and all kinds of job work also receives special attention, and form a
prominent feature of the business. Within the past two or three years Mr. Cooley
has given considerable attention to building on his own account, and has erected
and owns six dwellings on Sixth and D streets, where he has two acres of land in
that popular quarter of the city. He entered into competition with twenty-nine
other pipe dealers to sell to the city of San Bernardino pipe for its new
water-works, which will be put into the streets this coming summer. Mr. Cooley
was successful, and secured the contract for the entire city system, defeating
all competitors by from $4,000 to $14,000. Mr. Cooley married Miss Bessant, a
native Californian, and daughter of a pioneer who crossed the plains in the same
train with his parents. Their family consists of a daughter and two sons.
SOURCE: An Illustrated History of Southern California: Embracing the Counties
of San Diego, San Bernardino, Los Angeles and Orange, and the Peninsula of Lower
California� Chicago: The Lewis Publishing Company, 1890. p.- 496-497
Transcribed by Kathy Sedler